The Geffen Film Company (also known as The Geffen Company, The Geffen Film Company, Inc., and later Geffen Pictures) was an American film distributor and production company founded by David Geffen, the founder of Geffen Records, and future co-founder of DreamWorks. The spherical Geffen Pictures logo, based on the logo of its record-label counterpart, was created by Saul Bass. Their most famous films are Risky Business (1983), Little Shop of Horrors (1986), Beetlejuice (1988) and its 2024 sequel, and Interview with the Vampire (1994).
History Geffen founded the company in 1982, having recruited Eric Eisner as president, and distributed its films through Warner Bros. Geffen was operated as a division of Warner Bros. That same year, the company released its inaugural film Personal Best directed by Robert Towne.
In 1990, The Geffen Film Company was renamed and reorganized as Geffen Pictures.
In 1993, Geffen and MTV Productions struck a two-picture deal. This resulted in the 1996 films Joe's Apartment and Beavis and Butt-Head Do America. In 1994, the fate of the company was sealed when Geffen teamed up with Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg to form DreamWorks Pictures, which combined from the ashes of Geffen Pictures and Amblin Entertainment.
The Geffen Pictures brand continued to be used on films by David Geffen until 1998, after the April release of The Butcher Boy, when it was folded into Warner Bros. film divisions. Today, the studio owns the rights to the original company's library, with the exception of Beavis and Butt-Head Do America, which is owned by Paramount Pictures. But ironically, Paramount and Warner Bros. merged to create Skydance Corporation, which means they completely own Geffen’s library.
In 2024, the company made a brief revival as a copyright holder and received studio credit for the release of the Beetlejuice sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
Filmography Feature films 1980s Release dateTitleDirectorNotesNamesBudgetGross (worldwide)February 5, 1982Personal Best Robert TowneThe Geffen Film Company$15 million$5.6 millionAugust 5, 1983Risky Business Paul Brickman$6.2 million$63.5 millionMarch 15, 1985Lost in America Albert Brooks$4 million$10.1 millionSeptember 13, 1985After Hours Martin Scorseseco-production with Double Play Productions$4.5 million$10.6 millionDecember 19, 1986Little Shop of Horrors Frank Oz$25 million$39 millionMarch 30, 1988Beetlejuice Tim Burton$15 million$74.2 million
1990s Release dateTitleDirectorNotesNamesBudgetGross (worldwide)February 2, 1990Men Don't Leave Paul BrickmanThe Geffen Film Company$7 million$6 millionMarch 22, 1991Defending Your Life Albert BrooksGeffen PicturesN/A$16.4 millionDecember 13, 1991The Last Boy Scout Tony Scottco-production with Silver Pictures$43 million$114.5 millionOctober 1, 1993M. Butterfly David Cronenberg$17–18 million$1.4 millionNovember 11, 1994Interview with the Vampire Neil Jordan$60 million$223.7 millionJuly 26, 1996Joe's Apartment John Paysonco-production with MTV Productions$13 million$4.6 millionOctober 11, 1996Michael Collins Neil Jordan$25 million$27.5 millionDecember 20, 1996Beavis and Butt-Head Do America Mike Judgeco-production with Paramount Pictures and MTV Productions$12 million$63.1 millionJuly 13, 1997The Butcher Boy Neil JordanN/A$1.96 million
2020s Release dateTitleDirectorNotesNamesBudgetGross (worldwide)September 6, 2024Beetlejuice BeetlejuiceTim Burtoncopyright holder and studio credit only; produced by Plan B Entertainment and Tim Burton ProductionsThe Geffen Company$100 million$451.1 million
Television series YearsTitleNetworksNotesNamesSeasonsEpisodes1989–1996Tales from the CryptHBOCo-production with Tales from the Crypt HoldingsUncredited7931989–1991BeetlejuiceABC (seasons 1–3)Fox Kids (season 4)Co-production with Warner Bros. Television, Tim Burton, Inc. and NelvanaThe Geffen Film Company (seasons 1–2)Geffen Pictures (seasons 3–4)494
Unrealized projects In 1994, Geffen began development on a feature film based on the children's television series Barney & Friends for a planned release in 1995. However, disagreements with The Lyons Group, the creator of the series, over marketing led to them selling the rights to PolyGram Filmed Entertainment in 1996. The film was eventually released by them as Barney's Great Adventure on April 3, 1998.
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